Hawkeyes reclaim supremacy

Iowa 27, Iowa St. 17

September 17, 2006|By Reid Hanley, Tribune staff reporter.

IOWA CITY — Most of the 70,585 fans at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday agreed that Iowa is again a Hawkeye state.

The 16th-ranked Hawkeyes (3-0) came back to win the annual grudge match with bitter rival Iowa State 27-17, causing spontaneous chanting of "Hawkeye State, Hawkeye State" to answer the "Iowa is a Cyclone State" billboard new ISU athletic director Jamie Pollard had erected in nearby Cedar Rapids. Iowa had lost six of eight games with the Cyclones, including a 23-3 rout a year ago.

Iowa quarterback Drew Tate, who sat out last week's double-overtime victory at Syracuse with an abdominal strain, completed 26 of 38 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns. Tate was knocked out of last year's game.

"It's a huge game, obviously," said Tate, a senior from Baytown, Texas. "They play extremely well against us, extremely tough against us. It's a big game for the state; the media gets it going. We don't want to be all about beating Iowa State. We want to win in the Big Ten, too, and get to a January bowl."

Iowa came back from a 14-3 deficit in the second quarter. In the second half, the Hawkeyes' defense found a way to stifle Cyclones quarterback Bret Meyer, who became the school's all-time passing leader.

That put Tate in position to throw TD passes of 19 yards to Wheaton Warrenville South's Tony Moeaki and 2 yards to Tom Busch and put Iowa ahead 24-17 in the fourth quarter.

"It looked like we grew in the second half and improved as a team," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "I think we did the same thing last week."

Meyer hit Todd Blythe with an 8-yard touchdown pass on the Cyclones' first drive and then took it in himself from 9 yards out in the second quarter to give Iowa State (2-1) a 14-3 lead.

The Cyclones held Tate's offense in check until late in the second quarter when he drove Iowa 80 yards and threw a screen pass to Andy Brodell for an 11-yard touchdown that cut the Hawkeyes' deficit to 14-10.